The Gujarat CM is pulling out all stops to make the BJP's Mission 272-plus a reality - which is vital to his prime ministerial dream.

His eyes trained firmly on Delhi, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is scaling up his campaign as the general election inches closer. Pulling out all stops to make the BJP's Mission 272-plus a reality - which is vital to his prime ministerial dream - Modi will hold mega rallies across the country in the next two months.

Coming up first is his rally in Jaipur on September 10, where he will address a gathering at the conclusion of the 'Suraaj Sankalp Yatra' undertaken by former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje. This will be followed by a rally at Rewari in Haryana on September 15 and the Hunkar rally at the Gandhi Maidan in Patna on October 27.

Buoyed by the success of Modi's rally in Hyderabad on August 11, the BJP has planned more rallies and public campaigns in south India. The Gujarat CM is likely to address a youth conference in Tamil Nadu on September 26. The placer and other arrangements for the conference are yet to be finalised, though.

Campaign spree

The BJP clearly feels it has found a trump card in Modi and that he is the party's best bet for a shot at power at the Centre.

Explaining the rally overdrive of the BJP's election campaign committee chairman, party president Rajnath Singh told Mail Today that Modi "is the most popular leader and will benefit party's poll prospects". In what was clearly a counter to the Congress's constant refrain that Modi's communal past makes him unfit for the country's top job, Rajnath said: "If the country can have a prime minister who hasn't administered even a district, then why not Modi? At least he has the longest experience as a chief minister." In Uttar Pradesh, which has the biggest number of Lok Sabha seats, Modi will begin his campaign in big way after October 31.

His confidante Amit Shah is already in the state, having been assigned the task to win maximum seats for the party.

Bihar, too, is of special interest, not only because it has 40 seats but also in view of the BJP's bitter fight with former ally, the Janata Dal-United.

Rajnath said "the party will leave no stone unturned to improve its seats tally in Bihar and UP", underlining how important the two heartland states were for the party.

While Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar managed to keep Modi out of the state even when his party was in alliance with the BJP, the Gujarat CM's presence at the Hunkar rally will be a direct challenge to him. The BJP's state unit is banking on Modi's charisma to cut into Nitish's mass appeal - and vote bank.

Modi is also reaching out to farmers through his Vibrant Gujarat Global Agriculture Summit. The event, scheduled to take place in Gandhinagar between September 9 and 11, is expected to be attended by more than 3,000 farmers from all over the country.

Apart from the Lok Sabha elections, states where assembly polls are scheduled later this year will also receive the Gujarat CM's special attention.

A schedule is being drawn up for a rally in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. "No date for has been finalised as yet, but Modi's rally is definitely happening in the state," said Kailash Vijayvargiya, senior BJP leader in MP. While the Gujarat CM is busy reaching out to the masses across the country, his party is drumming up all the support it can within the state.

The state BJP is gearing up for a mega celebration for its leader on his birthday on September 17. A largescale mass connect programme will be launched on the occasion. "At least one lakh people will directly connect with Modiji through the social media," said a member of the BJP's social media cell.

Mass outreach

"We are dealing with the party's programme at the state level," Gujarat BJP spokesperson I. K. Jadeja said. He added that Modi's birthday would provide the appropriate occasion to initiate his people outreach programme in his home state.

Modi has already made his wish of decimating the Congress across all 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat known to his party workers. A drive will be carried out between September 17 and September 25, the birth anniversary of RSS ideologue Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, wherein the party's youth wing has been mandated to enroll at least two lakh members from the unorganised sector while all the other units, including SC, ST, OBC, kisan and minority morchas, have been asked to enroll at least one lakh members each.

The party is also planning to initiate a Jan Sampark Yatra to be taken out by the BJP Yuva Morcha on September 11. The yatra will conclude on September 25 and will primarily spread awareness on thoughts of Swami Vivekananda, who, along with Sardar Patel, has been the mascot for Modi's campaign for some time.